The revolution in Rojava in western Kurdistan has been gaining international traction across leftist groups and organizations. Despite the immense socio-political gains and the colossal fundamental changes that have occurred within the spheres of gender, democracy, and ecology, the international media still regards Rojava from perspectives that are dominated by Eurocentric and Orientalist views of the Kurds, especially Kurdish female fighters. Less attention, even on the left, has been awarded to the ideology driving the women fighters forward, which has ensured a solid, democratic, and feminist foundation for Rojava. Media interest, if at all, has been in regard to radical democracy and its “anarchist” roots in connection with Murray Bookchin’s Libertarian Municipalism. It is, however, the ideology behind women’s liberation known as Jineology (womenology) that is the force underpinning the radical democracy of Democratic Confederalism. This school of thought has been produced entirely by Kurdish women activists and fighters. It is this ideology, in connection with stateless democracy, which requires further exploration and attention in Rojava.

Hawzhin Azeez is a Kurd from south Kurdistan (northern Iraq) and holds a PhD in Politics and International Relations from the University of Newcastle, Australia, where she settled in 1994 after escaping Saddam Hussein’s genocidal Anfal campaign with her family. She is a member of the Kurdistan National Congress (KNK) and the Kobanê Reconstruction Board. She has been based in Kobanê for the past nine months where she directed and supported the rebuilding of the canton. Azeez has published several articles regarding the rebuilding process, particularly the problems caused by the lack of a humanitarian corridor into Kobanê.